Justification by Faith - The Treasure Book of Concord

From Thy Strong Word:

J-520
"It is a faithful saying that Christ has accomplished everything, has removed sin and overcome every enemy, so that through Him we are lords over all things. But the treasure lies yet in one pile; it is not yet distributed nor invested. Consequently, if we are to possess it, the Holy Spirit must come and teach our hearts to believe and say: I, too, am one of those who are to have this treasure. When we feel that God has thus helped us and given the treasure to us, everything goes well, and it cannot be otherwise than that man's heart rejoices in God and lifts itself up, saying: Dear Father, if it is Thy will to show toward me such great love and faithfulness, which I cannot fully fathom, then will I also love Thee with all my heart and be joyful, and cheerfully do what pleases Thee. Thus, the heart does not now look at God with evil eyes, does not imagine He will cast us into hell, as it did before the Holy Spirit came...."
Sermons of Martin Luther, 8 vols., ed., John Nicholas Lenker, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983, III, p. 279. Pentecost Sunday. John 14:23-31.

J-528
"Faith is that my whole heart takes to itself this treasure. It is not my doing, not my presenting or giving, not my work or preparation, but that a heart comforts itself, and is perfectly confident with respect to this, namely, that God makes a present and gift to us, and not we to Him, that He sheds upon us every treasure of grace in Christ."
Apology of the Augsburg Confession, IV. #48. Of Justification. Concordia Triglotta, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1921, p. 135. Heiser, p. 36.

J-545
"These treasures are offered us by the Holy Ghost in the promise of the holy Gospel; and faith alone is the only means by which we lay hold upon, accept, and apply, and appropriate them to ourselves. This faith is a gift of God, by which we truly learn to know Christ, our Redeemer, in the Word of the Gospel, and trust in Him, that for the sake of His obedience alone we have the forgiveness of sins by grace, are regarded as godly and righteous by God the Father, and are eternally saved."
Formula of Concord, Thorough Declaration, III. #10. Of the Righteousness of Faith before God. Concordia Triglotta, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1921, p. 919. Tappert, p. 541. Heiser, p. 250.

J-590
"For neither you nor I could ever know anything of Christ, or believe on Him, and obtain Him for our Lord, unless it were offered to us and granted to our hearts by the Holy Ghost through the preaching of the Gospel. The work is done and accomplished; for Christ has acquired and gained the treasure for us by His suffering, death, resurrection, etc. But if the work remained concealed so that no one knew of it, then it would be in vain and lost. That this treasure, therefore, might not lie buried, but be appropriated and enjoyed, God has caused the Word to go forth and be proclaimed, in which He gives the Holy Ghost to bring this treasure home and appropriate it to us. Therefore sanctifying is nothing else than bringing us to Christ to receive this good, to which we could not attain ourselves."
The Large Catechism, The Creed, Article III, #38, Concordia Triglotta, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1921, p. 689. Tappert, p. 415. Heiser, p. 194.

Quoting Ichabod Quoting Luther and Others

Mild Colonial Boy

L P Cruz said:
July 23, 2008 at 11:23 pm
I finally got in to comment on your blog.

I believe Dr. Ichabod has some wise things to say. Those who do not listen to their critics will one day be left alone in their own self delutions.

LPC

Meanwhile, On Bailing Water...

SP Schroeder: "Faster."

People are posting furiously, but anonymously, on Bailing Water.

Most of the posting about Lutheran doctrine on the Net is either done anonymously, through secret email lists, or on closed blogs.

No one wants to risk the wrath of the apostates, but they should be afraid of our wrath (more significantly, of God's wrath). As I recall, Robert Preus published in his own name. Jack Preus published in his own name. Marquart published in his own name. When WELS had problems with Missouri liberalism, they organized public forums, not secret meetings.

The timidity evident today comes from a lack of faith in God's Word, in His Promises. The timid trust in the mighty synod pension plan, but not in God's power. The timid love their beloved synod, but they scorn God's Word. The timid say they love God's Word, but in Jerusalem they whisper low the name of Lutheran Confessionalism - lest it be heard on the streets of Gath (2 Samuel 1:20; Schmauk).

God does provide. His Word never fails.

I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread. Psalm 37:25 KJV.

Defeating the Church Growth Movement

Church Growth Enthusiasts, like the WELS Church and Change leaders, love Leonard Sweet. Methodist Sweet was a featured speaker (videotaped) at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis.
Seminex won, my friends.

The only way the Church Growth Movement will be defeated in the Lutheran Church is by opposing its doctrine. Sure the Lutheran CG leaders are unstable, their methods embarrassing, and their sneaker services tacky. But complaining about them is not going to accomplish anything more than it has - which is nothing so far. Thirty years of ineffective grousing should convince us that another route is better.

Here are the basic doctrinal errors of the Church Growth Movement:

1. They deny the efficacy of the Word, which is a foundational Biblical doctrine, essential to all aspects of the Christian faith.

2. They believe they can enlarge the Church by adulterating the Word. In fact, they advocate adulterating the Word.

3. Their favorite word - method - is used once in the New Testament, negatively. Pastors should get out their Greek lexica--or ponies--and look up method in the Greek NT. Hint - it is spelled the same way in Greek, only with Greek letters.

4. They confuse the visible church with the true, invisible Church.

5. Most are closet Universalists, which is fine with Lutheran UOJ fanatics, who are also Universalists. As the WELS CG campaign said, "I am saved, just like you."

6. They do not comprehend Law and Gospel, often confusing the two. They turn Moses into the Savior and the Savior into Moses, to quote Luther.

7. They speak about the Holy Spirit all the time, but they deny the exclusive work of the Holy Spirit through the invisible Word of teaching and preaching, the visible Word of the Sacrament. (This is directly related to the efficacy of the Word.)

8. They follow Calvin and Zwingli in mocking the Sacraments.

9. They claim the Word of God is dead without man's help.

10. Since worship reflects doctrine, they destroy worship in the name of recruiting people.

11. They despise the Confessions, especially the Lutheran Confessions, but also their own confessions, a half-way step on the road to Unitarianism.

12. They are ecumenical to a fault, as long as their fellowship includes only those people who agree with their Church Growth principles. Those who critique their nonsense are excommunicated with prejudice.

***

If nothing is done about this among the Lutherans, there will be no Lutheran doctrine taught in 20 more years, perhaps 10. The names will still be there. The Kool Aid drinkers will be getting in line, taking a number, talking about their "beloved synod." But Lutheran doctrine will be as scarce as a Triglotta at St. Mark's, De Pere.

The upcoming doctrinal study by WELS has already given an ominous hint of things to come. The sect is going to study the Means of Grace, but the official announcement was openly scornful about those who trusted in the Word alone, slandering faithful pastors with the implication that they did not work as hard as their CG counterparts.

I read the announcement as, "The fix is on," but Wayne Mueller took a call soon after. The offical wording definitely had his spirit. Now there is some hope, if some pastors can grow a spine. The District Popes will not help.

Kool-Aid Drinkers All

My sect is perfect and in total harmony, so we do not need Luther's doctrine.

I was going to write a post about Kool-Aid drinkers when the following posts appeared on LutherQuest (sic):



Dianne Dexter (Searching)
Member
Username: Searching

Post Number: 158
Registered: 1-2005
Posted on Saturday, August 02, 2008 - 2:25 pm:

-------------------------------
Jonathan,
Isn't that what the CLC (Church of the Lutheran Confession) did? The ones that formed the CLC had the will...and they organized out of the 3 above-mentioned synods. Politics and power are absent in the CLC...except the power of the Word of God.

(Just my thoughts when I read your last sentence.)

^^^^

Rev. Stephen Kurtzahn (Hville79)
New member
Username: Hville79

Post Number: 13
Registered: 6-2008
Posted on Saturday, August 02, 2008 - 3:44 pm:

----------------------------------
Dianne:
I'm a rather new poster on LutherQuest. I am a pastor who colloquized into the WELS in 2002 from the CLC, the Church of the Lutheran Confession. I was in the CLC for 27 years (after being raised mostly in the WELS and attending WELS synodical schools) and a pastor in the CLC for 23. I served on several boards and committees, including the Board of Doctrine. I also served as Conference Visitor (like a circuit pastor in the WELS but for a larger geographic area). I can tell you from personal experience and observation that politics and power are just as present in the CLC as it may be in the WELS, the ELS or the LC-MS. That's because these are all human organizations made up of sinful human beings.

Yes, as a WELS pastor I would have a problem with one of my members participating in the Lord's Supper at a non-WELS, non-ELS church.

Jonathan:
The basic premise is not flawed. Scripture teaches there should be complete unity in the teachings and practices of Scripture for there to be any expression of fellowship. 1 Cor. 1:10 comes to mind as just one of many passages. The WELS has defined this as the Unit Concept of Fellowship. In our imperfect world, the best way to express this unity and oneness is through our church and synod membership. To say "There is a stream of unity in doctrine and practice between the three synods that is ignored and marginalized in the name of politics and power" is simply an unwise statement to make. If there are people in the LCMS or the CLC that believe all the same things I do, that would be wonderful. Our unity is found in the Holy Christian Church! But as long as such people subscribe their names to a denomination that clearly teaches false doctrine or officially is legalistic, then I dare not give the impression there is unity when there is not. To express unity in such situations would be to trivialize error, whether the error be in a doctrinal formulation or in a legalistic practice or in an un-evangelical emphasis. I don't think any confessional Lutheran would want to trivialize error.

^^^^

Jonathan Townsend (Jtownsend)
Intermediate Member
Username: Jtownsend

Post Number: 299
Registered: 1-2005
Posted on Saturday, August 02, 2008 - 6:10 pm:

----------------------------------------------------
Pastor Kurtzahn:
Three years ago I moved. I left the most confessional LCMS Lutheran congregation I was ever a member of, Emmanuel Dearborn, for an equally confessional WELS congregation St. Peter's in Plymouth. There are two basic differences: I have a different pastor, and the synod is different. In doctrine and practice both are unabashedly UAC Lutheran. There is no trivialization here. There is either UAC Lutheran or not. That should be the standard for fellowship.

I think Luther and Chemnitz would be ashamed of us for the current division.
------------------------------------------------------
Feld Unbekannt

^^^^

Rev. Stephen Kurtzahn (Hville79)
New member
Username: Hville79

Post Number: 14
Registered: 6-2008
Posted on Saturday, August 02, 2008 - 7:29 pm:

--------------------------------------------------
Jonathan:
Not only wold (sic) Luther and Chemnitz be ashamed, but I know the Lord himself would be ashamed of us for many things. Praise God we are covered in Christ's righteousness!

That being said, if Emmanuel, Dearborn is unabashedly UAC Lutheran, why does it stay in a synod that has officially strayed from the Word in so many different areas in both its doctrine as well as its practice?

***

GJ - Wait until the cyber-minders of WELS find out Kurtzahn is posting on LQ (sic). I am sure that is a breech of fellowship. Too bad the LQ (sic) site does not have a spell checker or a doctrine checker. If those tools were installed, there would be precious few posts.

Recently Jack Cascione (former ELS colloquy reject) stated that the Gospel required the Voters' Assembly to be effective. Even the normally docile Rolf Preus opined that Jack needed a longer vacation. Coming from Preus, a man who thinks everyone in the world is already forgiven, without faith or the Means of Grace, that is pretty severe. Will Jack join the Rolf Synod? Will Rolf join the Cascione Synod?

Dianne Dexter, having finished a quart of CLC (sic) Kool Aid, is certain she has found a synod without politics, without a zephyr of false doctrine. Their missionary-force-of-one, David Koenig, praises Roman and Reformed doctrine while denouncing Lutheran doctrine. His buddy, Paul Tiefel, joins him in this farce. That nano-sect is consistently opposed to the Confessions, but they claim otherwise.

This is really funny--> When I claimed Valleskey went to Fuller, Koenig contacted Valleskey to see if it was true. Valleskey confessed, and did not deny, but confessed that he did go to Fuller. (Remember that Valleskey called me a liar six ways from Sunday for saying he did go there.) Next Koenig wrote me that Valleskey was angry with him for telling me the truth, which I publicized for the good of Valleskey's soul. So Koenig was angry with me for telling the truth and naming him as the source. Poor David was also in close contact with Larry Olson (DMin, Fuller). The Church Growth fellowship is far more true and loyal and united than any synodical ties. Meanwhile, buddy Paul Tiefel was working with his first cousin James Tiefel.

All these sects are really Pietistic movements with some hints of Lutheranism in them. That is why some of the apostate ministers end up as honest Baptists or Pentecostals, others as honest Romanists or EO priests.

The trouble is, the Lutheran sects in America no longer have any doctrinal leadership. They have Kool Aid drinkers who constantly apologize for all their doctrinal errors or silence everyone with "I am fat and dumb," (to quote a WELS circuit pastor.)

I post Episcopal news because they have leaders who are visibly and audibly fighting error in their own denomination. I have no interest in promoting their latitudinarianism. Lutherans today do not have enough fight to knock the skin off a pudding.

PS - Rev. Jim Jones was a Marxist bi-sexual minister of the Disciples of Christ, the same denomination as Donald McGavran. The Disciples had a discipline committee (ironic name) that did nothing about the well known abuses of Jones, long before the tragic massacre.